Earth and Human Activity
- Physics
Picture This: Christmas from space
Satellite images show that cities brighten during holidays. Charting such changes can point to factors affecting energy use and contributing to global warming.
- Environment
Spidey sense: Eight-legged pollution monitors
Spiders that prey on aquatic insects can serve as sentinels that naturally monitor banned chemicals that still pollute many rivers across the United States.
- Environment
Soot fouls subway stations — and maybe lungs
Soot levels in stations for New York City’s electric subway trains exceed the levels outdoors, a new study finds. The underground source of this black carbon: maintenance trains that share the tracks with subway trains. Breathing soot can aggravate asthma and other lung disease.
- Environment
Nano air pollutants strike a blow to the brain
Most people think that air pollution poses the biggest risk to our lungs. In fact, pollution hits the brain too, sometimes by traveling a direct route — through our noses. These tiny pollutants can harm IQ and more.
- Fossils
Tar pit clues provide ice age news
New analyses of insects and mammals trapped in the La Brea Tar Pits point to climate surprises during the last ice age.
- Environment
Thirdhand smoke poses lingering danger
The pollutants in cigarette smoke can linger indoors for hours. Indeed, they may pose risks long after any visible smoke is gone.
- Climate
The worst drought in 1,000 years
The 1934 drought, during a period in American history known as the Dust Bowl, was the worst in a millennium, a new study finds. While the drought had natural origins, human activities made it worse.
- Animals
Scientists seek bat detectives
Bats emit high-pitched calls in the night to find their way around. A citizen science project is eavesdropping on these calls to probe the health of ecosystems.
- Climate
Lightning strikes will surge with climate change
Warming temperatures will lead to 50 percent more lightning strikes across the 48 U.S. states in the next century, researchers report. That increase could lead to more warming, more fires and even more deaths.
- Climate
World leaders call for action on climate change
This week, the presidents of China and the United States pledged to take aggressive action on the release of greenhouse gases to head off dire worldwide climate effects.
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Food can make an appetizing science fair project
Many students think they need a laboratory or special equipment for a winning research project. But finalists at the Broadcom MASTERS competition showed food-based research may require little more than your home kitchen
- Earth
How people have been shaping the Earth
We are the dominant force of change on Earth. Some experts propose naming our current time period the ‘Anthropocene’ to reflect our impact.
